I just saw an item on BBC News 24 about gun crime, following Blair's convening of a summit on the issue at Downing Street today in the wake of a spate of shootings in London and elsewhere. The two interviewees, one of whom was from Mothers Against Guns, both had sensible things to say; in particular, that legislation by itself won't solve the problem, and that attitudes and values were ultimately what was at stake. What neither of them mentioned was the drugs issue. True, they talked in general terms about poverty, and one of them even mentioned anomie, but being poor does not in itself lead to gun crime.
One very major factor fuelling gun crime, although doubtless not the only factor, is the enormous profits to be made - at least relative to any legal job that the individuals involved might realistically hope to land - from dealing drugs. I actually walked past a guy the other night in my own part of South London, talking on his mobile to someone, saying 'yeah well you've made enough to go legit, innit; I haven't made enough yet'. I can't prove this was a drugs-related conversation, much less that this guy had ever been anywhere near a gun. I can only say with any certainty that his conversation related to illegal activity. But if I were a betting man I know where I'd be putting my cash.
The current legislation means that dealing drugs offers at least the gambler's chance of making it; really making it, not stacking shelves in Somerfield. But because of the illegality of drugs, violence is almost automatically involved; dealing becomes a world of pure competition, in which anything goes, and the person prepared to take the most desperate measures comes out on top. The only way to deal with this problem is to get rid of the black market by decriminalizing, regulating, and licensing narcotics.
Of course, now that the guns are there, gun crime will not go away overnight; there are plenty of ridiculous 'respect' shootings by people who don't know the meaning of the term that are not immediately drugs related. It will also never go away *completely*: you are always going to find people willing to attempt an armed robbery just for the gains to be had, even if drugs are not involved. But getting rid of the black market in drugs would remove one of, perhaps even the, largest sources of temptation to possess a gun. The dynamic of gang rivalry by itself will, in the longer term, at least prove much easier to tackle if the profits of dealing are no longer available. Is there any chance of this happening? Not given the stupidity and irrationality of much of our media, of our politics, and of the general population (see below).
